"Political Party w/ Adam Smith" EP 25

Congressman Rick Kriseman or Congressman Chris Sprowls?

State Sen. Rick Baker, State Sen. Nick Diceglie, or State Sen. Ben Diamond?

Gov. Charlie Crist? Or Two-term Gov. Ron DeSantis?

With so many big races poised to break open in Pinellas County,  the latest edition of Political Party with Adam Smith features former State Sen. Jack Latvala, along with and Peter Schorsch and Janelle Irwin of FloridaPolitics.com, looking at various scenarios that may unfold.

The consensus was that U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist is clearly the strongest Democrat to challenge Ron DeSantis for governor, but that DeSantis will be tough to beat.

“As of right now with everything that I’ve seen, I am not confident that even (Crist) could pull it off,” said Irwin.

“(Crist) represents the perfect contrast to DeSantis in terms of empathy,” said Schorsch.

And who’s the strongest candidate to run for Crist’s south Pinellas congressional seat?

“Kriseman would be the first name that would come to mind for the seat in either party,” Latvala said of Democratic St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, also suggesting Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes as a strong prospect.

Schorsch predicted that the Republican-controlled legislator will revise the lines of Congressional District 13 to exclude Crist, but Latvala discounted the prospect of dramatically reworking congressional district lines in Pinellas. Even a Republican-friendly Supreme Court would not sign off on gerrymandered district lines that split municipalities and communities of interest in violation of a constitutional amendment voters passed in 2010, Latvala said.

“I really do think that Chris Sprowls is going to end up running for Congress,” Schorsch said of the Florida House Speaker from Palm Harbor. “I think that somehow some sort of deal gets reached at the end where lo and behold a district is drawn favorably to him.”
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